Siegrid “Ziggy” Robeson is looking ahead to the upcoming school year.

The newly appointed superintendent of the Ripon Unified School District has plans of more professional development for teachers along with meeting with students and the community on a regular basis.

At last week’s school board meeting, Robeson, who will be working alongside the soon-to-be-retired-again Superintendent Bill Draa through August, talked about the changes.

Included is a new format for the monthly sessions where consent items have been moved up on the agenda.

“We also welcome everyone to speak up on any item during the meetings,” said Robeson, who believes in the spirit of collaboration.

She listed Next Generation Science Standards and a Language Arts program as part of the professional development plan.

Robeson is also looking to get more folks involved in the long-range facilities master plan. There’s been talk about adding a sixth- through- eighth- grade middle school.

RUSD operates kindergarten- through- eighth-grade elementary school sites along with a 9-12 high school.

“We will not change the configurations without input from everybody involved,” she said.

She does have plans of a cabinet consisting of student representatives from each of the school sites will meet with her at the district office.

Robeson is inviting the community to take part in the town hall meetings. “This one will be separate from the facilities planning and would be scheduled once a month,” she said.

 In addition, Robeson indicated that the Weston Elementary School modernization is nearly completed.

During the remodeling, students, teachers, staff and administrators were shuffled throughout the district.

“They’re now moving into their new home,” she said. “This is the last phase (at Weston).”